GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Erik Prince, the Holland native who founded private military company Blackwater, faces criminal referral to the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly misleading a congressional panel during testimony almost two years ago.

“I do believe that there is very strong evidence that he willingly misled the committee and made false statements to the committee,” Schiff told the Post. “The evidence is so weighty that the Justice Department needs to consider this.”

The allegations stem from Prince’s sworn testimony before the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 regarding an earlier meeting with a Russian banker in Seychelles islands.

Schiff said Prince told the committee he met the Russian banker in the islands nine days before President Donald Trump’s inauguration by chance. He contended, Schiff said, that he wasn’t attempting to set up a backchannel for Trump’s team.

"We know from the Mueller report now that that was not a chance meeting, that he had preparatory material about him before he left, that he had discussions about it with (Steve) Bannon before he left,” Schiff told the Post.

Schiff said his committee is sending the criminal referral because “the Justice Department needs to consider whether it can make a prosecutable case" against Prince.